


Armistice

by ghoulaesthetics (astraielle)



Series: tumblr prompts [12]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-14 08:34:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11779377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astraielle/pseuds/ghoulaesthetics
Summary: She strikes too hard for a human, he thinks idly.





	Armistice

**Author's Note:**

> From a lis of flower-related tumblr prompts. This was for Nettle--Cruelty. 
> 
> Pre-relationship Lee/Thane kind of. It’s the odd ‘what are we’ stage.

_She strikes too hard for a human_ , he thinks idly. 

It’s the first time he’s had a chance to watch her fight with no weapon aside from her fists. A ‘friendly’ sparring session amongst a few crew members, with the Commander going so far as to grace them with her presence. The friendly part was a stretch, in his mind. 

She went in hard and fast and mercilessly, with a barely contained rage burning just below the surface. He swears he can see it through the golden scars that make jagged paths in her flesh. It’s fascinating to watch, really, the way she takes something like rage, which, under normal circumstances would be far too volatile to actually be productive, and turns it sharp and hard and into something that can be _used_. Thane almost considers the possibility that she was trained that way by the Alliance, but as he watches the way that the lower crewman crumples to the ground after a particularly nasty hit to the ribs, he decides against it. This is her, raw and untouched. It’s that simple. 

Shepard helps him to his feet after she lowers her fists, but there’s still a stiffness there. He understands the movement, the need to keep people at arm’s length for everyone’s sake. Yes, Commander Lee Shepard is a cruel woman, obviously so, but she is not stupid, nor inherently unkind where there’s no need to be. 

“Anyone else?” She asks sharply once the crewman has shuffled off to, presumably, the medbay. She’s sweating slightly, a soft sheen visible on her skin. But aside from that and a few dark hairs out of place, she looks mostly unruffled. If he hadn’t just seen her nearly decimate a man, he would’ve just assumed that she’d come in from a brisk walk. 

But that wasn’t the case. They were not in a place where such a thing was possible. They were in the shuttle bay of the Normandy, locking eyes after the proposition leaves her lips, and he moves forward without answering, but she knows. 

“You know I won’t be going easy on you,” she informs him as they each take the ready position. “And I expect the same. Make it hurt, Krios, or I’ll wonder if I should have left you in Illium.” 

He gives a brief nod, and she takes that as the signal to lurch forward. Fast, but not quite as honed as he is. The sound his foot makes when it connects with her body can her heard across the shuttle bay, as those watching dare not make a sound during an event like this. She’s on the ground instantly, grunting in what he can only assume is immense pain, but only long enough for him to make his retort.

“Worry not, Shepard. I’ll only ever be coming at you with the intent to kill.”

And then she grins, like she’s just been handed the best gift of her entire life, and lunges forward again. And so begins the real dance. 


End file.
